Where the restlessness of our narrow gullies finds respite
As we breathe in the wintry air locked inside the cinema screen
Lulling ourselves

Into believing that we, too, residents of the third world,
Struggle with the doubts and dilemmas of the first world,
That beyond scarcity-illness-religion
We are part of the subtle nuances of fine sentiment and existentialism.

Reboot

We click
To make the red
Go away.

It does.
Attaches itself
To us.

We become
A quivering minefield.

Do not touch.
We will disintegrate.
Take you down
With us.

***Memory of being still
While being held
Successfully erased
From disk***

Author’s Statement on Beauty

Beauty is a moment, a vision, a string of words, powerful enough to shake us out of our anxieties and make us feel touched and grateful. It is derived from the uniqueness of our individual perspective and the process of creation takes us closer to our readers/viewers because in order to share it, we create common ground to prop it on. We first try to understand others’ view of things and then find openings in them where our own ways of seeing can fit, creating in the observers the same stirrings that the thing of beauty had first inspired in us.

Ankita Anand’s writing has travelled through India, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Ireland, the US and the UK. She also facilitates writing workshops.